austin granger
1-Oct-2004, 14:26
Hello all. I have a bit of a conundrum and would greatly appreciate any advice.
I'm currently working on a body of photographs that I hope to someday turn into a book. The vast majority of the images are from 6x7cm or 4x5 negs. A few years back however, I rented a 6x17 camera from a local camera store just to play around with. As so often happens when you're loose and just 'fooling around', I somehow managed to make what I think are some pretty good negatives from this camera; negatives that would fit it quite nicely with the larger group of photographs I mentioned.
The problem is that I can't print these negatives, as my enlarger can only handle up to 4x5. I have a couple possible solutions. One is to have a lab print them. While I don't much like this idea, as I think I can best print my own negatives, it is the most obvious solution. So I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations for a lab that prints high quality fiber prints; a lab that would match proofs I sent them (I can print the 6x17 negs in sections for this purpose) and even use my chosen paper to match the rest of the photos.
Another thought is to have a high quality scan made of the 6x17 negatives, and then have new 4x5 negatives made, which I would then print from. (Yes, I understand the image would not be 4x5; what I mean is, it would be five inches long and whatever amount high on a 4x5 neg) This seems a very round-a-bout way to tackle it, but has anyone out there done such a thing? Is there a considerable loss of quality? Is it outrageously expensive?
I suppose the third option (besides finding someone with an 8x10 enlarger they can 'lend' me) is printing the negatives in a sort of 'triptych' with white lines in between the sections...I don't much like this idea though.
Any thoughts?
Thanks much in advance.
I'm currently working on a body of photographs that I hope to someday turn into a book. The vast majority of the images are from 6x7cm or 4x5 negs. A few years back however, I rented a 6x17 camera from a local camera store just to play around with. As so often happens when you're loose and just 'fooling around', I somehow managed to make what I think are some pretty good negatives from this camera; negatives that would fit it quite nicely with the larger group of photographs I mentioned.
The problem is that I can't print these negatives, as my enlarger can only handle up to 4x5. I have a couple possible solutions. One is to have a lab print them. While I don't much like this idea, as I think I can best print my own negatives, it is the most obvious solution. So I'm wondering if anyone has any recomendations for a lab that prints high quality fiber prints; a lab that would match proofs I sent them (I can print the 6x17 negs in sections for this purpose) and even use my chosen paper to match the rest of the photos.
Another thought is to have a high quality scan made of the 6x17 negatives, and then have new 4x5 negatives made, which I would then print from. (Yes, I understand the image would not be 4x5; what I mean is, it would be five inches long and whatever amount high on a 4x5 neg) This seems a very round-a-bout way to tackle it, but has anyone out there done such a thing? Is there a considerable loss of quality? Is it outrageously expensive?
I suppose the third option (besides finding someone with an 8x10 enlarger they can 'lend' me) is printing the negatives in a sort of 'triptych' with white lines in between the sections...I don't much like this idea though.
Any thoughts?
Thanks much in advance.